Taufik goes through but Sony loses in Denmark
Taufik goes through but Sony loses in Denmark
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Taufik Hidayat cruised through the third round with a 15-10, 15-5
win over Sergio Llopis of Spain but Sony Dwi Kuncoro failed to
overcome his second-round hurdle at the Denmark Open in Aarhus,
Denmark on Wednesday.
19-year-old Sony fell to local hopeful Peter Rasmussen, who is
ten years older than the rising Indonesian star, 4-15, 15-12, 7-
15. The defeat means that Sony failed to even the score against
the Dane, who beat him in the quarterfinals of the Korean Open
earlier this year.
Taufik, who is looking to continue his winning form from his
Indonesia Open title, may have taken an easy stride over the
Spaniard but a potential grudge match awaits him with defending
champion Chen Hong being Indonesia's top player's most likely
opponent in the next round.
However, Taufik will have to tackle Wong Choong Hann of
Malaysia in the third round and Chen, over whom Taufik holds a
formidable upper hand in their head-to-head meetings, will face
Niel Christian Kaldau.
Taufik has won all five of his matches with Chen, including
back-to-back victories in the finals of the Indonesia Open in
2003 and 2002.
However, apart from his personal record with Taufik, Chen has
displayed generally consistent play throughout the year by
winning the Singapore Open and Malaysia Open.
In the men's doubles, with the exception of Luluk
Hadiyanto/Alven Yulianto, all of the Indonesian pairs went
through to the next stage.
Candra Wijaya/Halim Haryanto made light work of it with a 15-
5, 15-7 drubbing of Peter Steffensen/Thomas Laybourn of Denmark.
Flandy Limpele/Eng Hian came from behind in dispatching
Mathias Boe/Michael Lamp of Denmark 9-15, 15-13, 15-7 in one hour
12 minutes.
Sigit Budiarto/Tri Kusharyanto were also stretched to three
sets in their 15-13, 9-15, 15-8 win over Kim Yong-hyun/Yim Bang-
eun of South Korea 15-13, 9-15, 15-8 in more than one hour and a
quarter.
Luluk/Alven lost to world champions Jonas Rasmussen/Lars
Paaske 15-7, 15-8.
Eny Erlangga/Lilyana Natsir were Indonesian first round
casualties in the women's doubles while in the mixed doubles the
team has no more contenders after its two pairs stumbled early.